


Under Control

by pssychotropical



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Deepthroating, Degradation, Long-Term Relationship, M/M, Misunderstandings, Open Relationship, Spitroasting, Threesome, but it ends well!, i guess cheating, implied polyamory, mention of drugs, slight age gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:15:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29703906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pssychotropical/pseuds/pssychotropical
Summary: Johnny and Yuta have been dating for years and are in an open relationship. Enter Mark, someone Johnny used to know back in childhood.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Nakamoto Yuta, Mark Lee/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Nakamoto Yuta/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Suh Johnny/Nakamoto Yuta/Mark Lee
Comments: 15
Kudos: 199





	Under Control

When Yuta comes back from jogging, it's two hours later than usually. He walks into the kitchen area, leaves his wired earphones on the counter and says hi to Johnny, before turning to the fridge to get himself a can of cold pepsi, his moves quick as if he was still exercising. He's wearing a pair of loose sweatpants, a tank top, hat and fingerless gloves, and Johnny can notice more and more details in his appearance which betray that he's just got laid. There's something special about the way his boyfriend looks, moves and talks after just having an orgasm. He beams with pride.

"So how did it happen?" Johnny asks, trying to sound casual but failing. The hint of jealousy is distinct in his voice. It's been more than a year now since they opened their relationship and Johnny still feels alert whenever his boyfriend sleeps with someone else. Not a lot. But enough for Yuta to notice and occasionally make fun of it.

Yuta shrugs, smiles, and takes a sip of his pepsi. He eyes the food Johnny's just taken out of the oven, the sleeves of Johnny's shirt rolled up his arms. "I was jogging, he was jogging too. We started talking, and you know, he was kind of handsome."

"What did he look like?" It's the controlling nature that makes Johnny always ask for the details of Yuta's encounters. As soon as he knows how things went down, how _exactly_ they went down, he stops feeling alert. The control is back in Johnny's hands.

"Younger. Blond hair, cute eyes. I think he was your type." Johnny hums in acknowledgement. He's now mixing the melted feta cheese and the cooked cocktail tomatoes to make them into a pasta sauce. Yuta leans over the kitchen unit, smelling the food. "He asked if he could suck my dick, I told him I had a boyfriend, and he suggested I text you for permission."

"Very polite of him."

Yuta giggles, his teeth showing. He can sense that Johnny's relaxing and he relaxes as well. "I exchanged phone numbers with him in case we were looking for a quick threesome not too far away from home."

"Good thinking."

Yuta keeps smiling. "I love telling guys about you before sex. It's like they unconsciously start competing with you in bed."

"And you like it when everybody's competing for you?"

Another cheeky smile on Yuta's face. "They perform better overall when they know they have to impress me." There's a pause. When Johnny begins mixing pasta with the sauce, Yuta prepares the plates and cutlery on the kitchen island. "I was tempted to hook us up for Saturday, but then you said something about some Mark guy. What's this all about?"

Johnny serves the pasta on both plates. "A high school friend of mine." Then he corrects himself, "I mean, we didn't go to high school together. He's like... three or four years younger than me. And he's not my friend either. He's just my friend's younger brother."

Already curling the pasta around his fork, Yuta snorts. "And he texted you because?"

"He asked me to help him move in. He's new to the city."

Yuta watches him take a seat. "I know that. I'm just asking, _why you_? You haven't talked to the guy for like... how many years?"

Johnny hesitates, then decides to guess. "Seven?"

Yuta doesn't question it. "Some dude you knew seven years ago texts you to help him move in and you just agree?"

"His brother texted me. What was I supposed to do? Be an asshole about it?"

Yuta doesn't miss a beat. "I would tell him to fuck off."

Johnny sighs, more amused than annoyed. "I know you would. You're always such a nice guy."

Yuta nudges him with his elbow, laughing, then quickly goes back to being serious. "I mean, unless you do want to meet with him. In which case, go ahead. I'm not stopping you."

"Actually," Johnny interjects. "I thought you could come with me."

Saturday morning, they both come pick the guy up from the airport.

At the parking lot, Yuta smokes a cigarette, leaning against the side of their car, his arms crossed against his chest and his platinum blond hair moving with the wind. He looks irritated, mostly because of the early hour of the day. Yuta never wakes up early, and Johnny's surprised that he managed to drag him out of bed at seven. There are two plastic cups of coffee from the gas station nearby, both standing on the roof of their car, and Johnny's sitting on the hood, looking at his phone, which is why he doesn't notice Mark approach. The person that stops by their car, with heavy luggage in his hands, looks nothing like the Mark Johnny remembers from his childhood. Granted, it's a very vague memory that Johnny has, and Mark was maybe fifteen years old the last time Johnny saw him. Now he's an adult.

"I feel so stupid about all this," is the first thing Mark says. His voice sounds familiar, although much lower, more mature.

"Mark. Hi." Johnny stands up from the hood and pulls Mark into a strong, one-armed hug, simultaneously shaking his hand. "Haven't heard from you guys for some time."

"That's what I told Daniel. It's so stupid to be asking for a favor like this from someone you haven't spoken to for so long." Clearly nervous with the situation, Mark laughs. His laugh hasn't changed at all. Realizing that, Johnny feels a surge of nostalgia which causes him to smile. "It's just that I have to be there before my stuff's delivered, and I'm completely new to the city. Haven't even seen my apartment before. Daniel contacted everybody he knew to live here."

"We're cool. No problem," Johnny assures him, then notices that Mark looks in Yuta's direction. "My boyfriend of four years, Yuta," he says. Yuta drops his cigarette on the ground, stubbing it out with his shoe, and shakes hands with Mark. "That's Mark. His brother and I were best friends in high school."

What used to be a great hindrance, having to babysit his friend's younger brother, now becomes an endearing memory. He remembers Mark when he was small and uncool, and how Daniel used to throw his slippers and pour cold water at him when they fought in front of Johnny. He doesn't remember ever talking to Mark without Daniel's presence, though, or even being alone with him in the same room.

"We lived like four minutes away from each other," Mark supplies, directing his words to Yuta. "And our parents were friends too."

Johnny confirms that with a nod, as he takes Mark's luggage and throws it to the trunk. "Remind me. How many years are you younger than us?"

"Four."

"Damn. So you're twenty-two now?" Mark doesn't say anything, just laughs. He mentions graduating college and getting a job, but doesn't go into details, probably assuming that neither Johnny nor Yuta care that much. They get into the car.

It doesn't end at driving Mark to his new apartment, because the moment Mark mentions carrying his boxes to the sixth floor, Johnny can't help but offer his further help. Yuta tries to joke about it, something between the lines of Johnny assuming his past role of Mark's babysitter, and Johnny laughs, saying that him and Daniel were more like asshole older brothers than caring babysitters. "When parents weren't home, we would lock Mark in his bedroom for a couple of hours so he wouldn't bother us when were watching movies," he says. Then looks at Mark. "Overdue apologies."

Mark waves his hand dismissively. He's smiling. "Daniel was a real asshole most of the time. But he could be nice too." Johnny dares Mark to provide some examples, so he comes up with one. "In elementary school," he tells Johnny, "he skipped three classes to bring me some homework I left home. He didn't care about truancy, admittedly, but he knew how much I cared about my grades."

"He never told me about that."

Mark laughs. Says that it doesn't surprise him.

Johnny responds with a fact of his own, which is almost a secret, and he says it in a lowered voice, "Sometimes when you weren't around, Daniel would tell me that he wished he was as smart as you were."

Mark laughs. "No way."

"Way."

Carrying the boxes up the staircase, they keep bringing up different situations, mostly funny ones, and Johnny finds it to be a unique experience how he can speak about himself from the past like it's a separate entity, some kind of guy he used to know and is now trying to recreate a full picture of out of mere pieces.

For an hour or so, he remembers with great vividity the places he spent time at and the people he was friends and enemies with, specific images, smells and sounds, things like his most listened to album or that one leather jacket that he always wore to school, with some rock band patch on it, which Johnny no longer remembers. Maybe they broke up before he graduated.

But then all the boxes are in Mark's apartment and the delivery van leaves too, and so their meeting comes to its official end. Mark briefly mentions that maybe Johnny and Yuta could come over some other time, maybe introduce him to the city, and Johnny says sure, that would be great, but he doesn't actually mean it. The occasion is a special one and seems like something that can't happen twice in a row, not with the same feeling to it, and on the way back to their car, him and Yuta walking down the staircase one last time, he thinks about how Mark actually got very handsome over those seven years.

"I'm sorry this took so long," he tells Yuta once they get inside. He pulls the belt over his chest, and Yuta does the same. The way back home, it's Yuta's turn to drive.

"Come on. I loved it." Yuta's voice is mocking, but also loving, and Johnny feels both embarrassed and relaxed. "It was adorable hearing all those stories about your teenage self."

"Very funny."

It takes a moment to be back to his current self. To be twenty six again.

"Why didn't you tell me all this?" Yuta asks.

Johnny laughs but doesn't know what to say. "I don't know. It's old shit."

And then, not missing a beat, like it's a logical continuation to his previous question, Yuta says, "Mark's kind of cute, huh?"

And because Johnny's sure it's a joke, he says, "I mean, yeah," and laughs. "Which is kind of weird. Last time I saw him he was all, you know, baby fat and small."

Then they pause. Yuta leaves the parking lot and drives onto the road, and entering the traffic, he focuses for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed. Then, the moment's over. "So you want to meet with him again?"

Johnny's looking at his phone already, checking the latest messages on the sex app, random guys in the vicinity looking for a hook-up. He takes his eyes off the screen. "No. Why?"

"Why not? You seem to have a lot to talk about."

Johnny frowns a little. He tries to establish whether there's a hidden complaint in his boyfriend's words. Admittedly, he didn't pay much attention to Yuta throughout the meeting. "It was just... memories. We talked about everything there was."

"No. I mean it," Yuta insists, and this time it sounds genuine. "You seem to be on the same wavelength. I'm surprised you were friends with his older brother, and not him."

"So what happened that you couldn't meet last week?" Jeno asks. Jeno is that blond guy Yuta met while jogging.

They're all three in Jeno's apartment, and Yuta's lying in Jeno's bed and lighting up a cigarette. Jeno scrunches his nose and frowns, but doesn't say anything. He collects his underwear from the floor and puts it back on, and as he bends down, the muscles in his back ripple. Yuta was right. He is kind of Johnny's type.

"We had an unexpected meeting," Yuta replies, casually. "Some friend of Johnny's from childhood moved here and we picked him up from the airport."

Johnny's not sure how he feels about revealing such private information to a random hook-up guy, but Yuta's calm and nonchalant so he tries to be as well.

Jeno hums in acknowledgement. He rolls the t-shirt down his sculptured chest and Johnny watches him from where he's seated on the edge of the bed, also dressing up. Only Yuta remains naked, smoking with no hurry.

"And you guys had sex?" Jeno asks. His voice sounds neutral, like he's trying to be polite and keep up the conversation going.

Johnny grows hot in his face. He turns to Yuta and Yuta laughs. "Did _you_ tell him that?" Johnny asks.

Because there's a cigarette in Yuta's mouth and has to let the smoke out through his nostrils, he can't respond immediately, and so Jeno speaks up instead. "I was just joking."

"Alright."

Yuta lowers the cigarette and looks at Johnny. "Gee. Why does the idea of having sex with Mark freak you out so much?" He drops Mark's name just like that.

"Because that's gross?"

Yuta smiles at him, in a rather flirtatious way. "Quite the contrary. I think he's very attractive." When Johnny's frown deepens, Yuta bursts into giggle. "I'm just playing with you," he tells Johnny, then addresses Jeno. "When Johnny was in high school, this guy was like his best friend's younger brother or something."

Jeno nods his head. "I'm sorry," he tells Johnny.

Johnny shrugs.

When he and Yuta come with a visit a few days later, all the boxes are unpacked and the apartment begins to look like someone's personal space.

Yuta hands Mark a wine bottle which they got with Johnny on their way, and Mark jokes about how he doesn't have any proper glasses yet. They undress in the hall, go to the kitchen, check out how Mark arranged things around the apartment, and Johnny has to make a conscious effort not to feel like it's one of those threesome dates that he and Yuta like to have every now and then. He relaxes only as they sit down on the sofas and resume their previous conversation. They reminisce about school, talk about some students that they both knew, then bring up that one physical education teacher who in summer would take a lawn chair, set it by the sports field, put on suncream and sunbathe the whole lesson. Yuta laughs too, at some of the anecdotes, even though he doesn't know their full context, and sometimes Mark tries to explain it to him, and Yuta says that it's fine, he gets it anyway. They order food and ordering food triggers memories as well, some stupid things Johnny and Daniel did, and every time Mark says something, Johnny finishes his sentence, and when Johnny narrates events, Mark adds more details to them. And it's kind of fascinating, Yuta thinks, to see Johnny so animated. And to learn so many things about him, too. He pours himself more wine, then goes to the shop to buy more alcohol, and somehow four hours pass unnoticed.

At some point, Mark mentions being an English major at college, and how maybe it makes no sense but he ended up being employed as a digital graphic designer, and this feels like a moment for Yuta to join the conversation, especially now that he's drunk.

"Graphic designer," he repeats. "Finally someone I can talk arts with." He laughs, and Mark asks him what he does and Yuta says photography. "I work at that queer art gallery downtown and they sometimes exhibit my stuff too," he explains, as if Mark already knew every corner of the city the same way he and Johnny do. "You can drop by one day," he tells Mark. "We have some cool lesbian stuff this week."

"Yeah. Absolutely," Mark replies, and somehow Yuta guesses that he doesn't really mean it. "What kind of photos do you take?" At least he tries to appear interested, Yuta can give him that. Mark has those big shiny eyes, and that strangely youthful face. Amazing bone structure too. Yuta imagines it would look amazing with a proper lighting. Emphasize those cheek bones. Snapshot.

"Gay stuff," Yuta says, then laughs. "No, I'm serious. I even did some collection of dick pics and it had an official exhibition. Johnny's was amongst them." The moment he says these words, he looks at Johnny and can tell that Johnny's embarrassed, and that somehow satisfies him. Yuta thinks Johnny tries to seem too cool for his own good.

Mark laughs, jokes how that's a strong incentive for him to come visit the gallery. Yuta says he has great persuasion skills. Johnny doesn't say anything.

They only talk about their meeting with Mark the following morning, because when they come back home they're both tired and drunk, and Johnny doesn't say much of anything.

Yuta walks into the kitchen, late as usual, his platinum blond hair dry and frizzy, uncombed as of yet. He's barefoot and the grey pyjama pants hang low around his hips. Johnny looks the contrary; he's seated at the kitchen counter, already dressed up and finishing his americano. The organized project manager that he is.

"Did you really have to mention your _dick pics_?" is the first thing he says to Yuta.

Yuta shrugs, but smiles. "Hey to you too." He stops by the kitchen unit and picks up the French press that Johnny used, half filled with coffee. It's lukewarm by now, but Yuta doesn't mind. "I was just joking," he says.

Johnny crosses his arms and leans against the back of his chair. "Very funny."

Again, Yuta shrugs. "He laughed, though." He pours the lukewarm coffee into the first mug he can grab out of the cabinet and leans with his butt against the kitchen unit, facing Johnny. He knows that kind of behavior. He's used to it.

Johnny stays silent for a while but he's clearly working on what to say next. What he eventually comes up with is, "Just because Mark is fine with the gay stuff doesn't mean you have to go into sexual details."

Yuta snorts. "You mean I shouldn't tell him how it turns you on when I take photos of us during sex?"

Johnny's expression changes from ready to fight into defeated. He sighs. "Yuta."

Yuta feels his own body relax. The coffee tastes surprisingly good. "I think you should meet with him alone this time." Johnny doesn't respond. "You clearly want to present yourself a certain way in front of him and I'm stopping you."

"Yuta. I didn't mean it."

"This is not an angry boyfriend speaking. Just go alone." He reaches for a pack of cigarettes and Johnny watches his hands without saying anything. "I clearly can't talk with you guys how you talk with each other, and that's fine. You'll feel better alone and I won't feel bad for unintentionally spoiling your image or something."

On Friday, Johnny takes Mark on a trip around the city. They stop at every place Johnny considers to be important, visit a few shops, and finally sit down in a cafe, and somewhere halfway through the trip they no longer talk just about their common past. The new Mark slowly replaces the fifteen year old kid Johnny used to know before leaving town for college. The new Mark is very likeable too.

"Sucks Yuta couldn't come with us today, huh?" Mark asks, as he dips his spoon into the piece of cake that has just arrived to their table. He's looking at the cake with interest, his eyes sparkling even in the shade of his cap.

"Maybe next time," Johnny says, and it's not a sincere suggestion, just a reflexive response. He drinks his americano, looks around the place and makes a mental note to bring here Yuta. The cafe is totally his style.

"He's like a real cool guy," Mark says, "Yuta is, I mean." He's looking at his cake, then raises his eyes and takes a brief glance at Johnny. He sounds sincere but also a bit restrained, and Johnny finds the combination to be very charming. He likes the idea of Mark liking his boyfriend. He usually likes it when people compliment Yuta, but it's even better when it comes from someone from his past. It makes him feel like he did things right. Achieved something.

"I mean, duh," Johnny replies. "It had to be someone cool enough to match my own coolness."

Mark laughs and now he's looking at Johnny openly. He seems interested and Johnny takes it for a good sign. "So how did you guys meet?"

"At some club perhaps?" He doesn't remember exactly. It's been years now and it's a strange idea that there even was a time in Johnny's life when he didn't know Yuta.

Mark nods. "Did someone introduce you or you just... automatically recognized each other's coolness from afar?"

Johnny laughs as well. Arms folded on top of the table, he leans forward. "It's an innate ability that we cool people have."

Someone walks past their table and Mark looks over his shoulder. His eyes tend to go places very fast, like everything around interests him. Johnny has noticed that.

"I didn't know you were gay... until two weeks ago," Mark mentions. "In high school you had like so many girlfriends." Johnny tries not to look too proud at being reminded of that. "Even Daniel was jealous," Mark adds, as if intentionally stroking Johnny's ego.

"I even ghostwrote love letters for him," Johnny says then.

"You did what?" Mark asks, laughing.

Johnny shrugs. "Chicks loved them."

Next three weeks pass and when on Saturday Lua comes with an unexpected visit, Johnny's not home. Yuta opens the door, barefoot, dressed in his pyjamas.

"It's two pm," Lua says.

Yuta shuts the door, shrugs his arms. He has a cigarette in his mouth but it's not lit up yet. They both walk into the kitchen, and he leans over the cooker, turning one burner on. Lua takes a cigarette out of Yuta's package, which lays on the kitchen unit, and does the same. A few moments later, they're both seated at the island, flickering the ashes into one mug.

"Where's Johnny?" she asks, ending the silence. Yuta looks like he hasn't slept well, or hasn't drunk any coffee since waking up, and she can't even see his eyes, which are covered by his longish hair.

Yuta taps the cigarette against the mug. "With Mark."

"Again?"

He looks at her, eyes emerging from between the white strands, like that last question didn't need to be said out loud. He's sitting with his both feet on the kitchen stool and has his arms propped on his spread knees. He releases smoke. "Johnny's playing out his teenage cool guy fantasies." Lua doesn't comment. "He sits with his back straight so he looks bigger, and with that macho posture, chest forward, and speaks in slow mo using only quotable one liners. It's funny to listen to."

Lua nods. She's leaning against the island, arms crossed on its surface. Her hair is short and with light green highlights, face heavily made up. Sometimes Lua and Yuta meet up so she can put makeup on his face as a way of practising, and Yuta likes how it feels on his skin.

They almost finish their first cigarette. "What's so interesting about this Mark guy?"

Yuta makes an expression which says, it's obvious. "He's like a curious little boy. Eyes this big." He presents. "Whatever Johnny says, he just bursts out laughing. He pumps Johnny's ego so much and then _I_ have to deal with the results."

"They've been talking about high school for over a month?"

"I don't know," Yuta says, but it sounds more like, I don't care.

She looks him in the face. "Are you jealous?" she asks.

Yuta snorts. "Me? Of the cute boy next door Mark guy who came out of god knows where? No."

"Right."

Yuta stubs out his cigarette and immediately lights up a new one, this time using Lua's lighter, which she politely provides him with. "My theory is," he says, voice distorted by the cigarette dangling between his lips. He clicks the lighter, takes the first drag and blows out the smoke, "that Johnny just really wants to fuck this guy stupid, but he thinks that everybody and their mother are gonna judge him because blah-blah, six years ago, Mark used to be fifteen, and that's why he goes around saying that it's me who's weird when I say he's hot."

"Is he hot?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't he straight though?"

"He is." Pause. He reorganizes his thoughts. "Johnny will hang around with him for maybe two more weeks, until he gets so blue-balled that he'll have no choice but come back to me with his tail between his legs." He pauses again. "Or they finally fuck and it's over. Either way, I'm cool."

Next weekend, Johnny invites Mark to his favorite barbeque place.

"Yuta's a vegetarian," he tells Mark, by means of explanation, as they walk inside and the waiter directs them to a free table. There's not a lot of them. "All of his friends are vegetarian too," he adds, then laughs. "Imagine how hard it is for me." He takes off his jacket and hangs it on the back of his chair before sitting down.

Mark hasn't yet picked up his menu. He's now looking around, and his eyes are reflecting the large hanging lights that are all over the restaurant. Johnny tries not to stare for too long.

"Dude. You should've told me this was some fancy place," Mark says with mock indignation.

"No, it's not."

"Uh-huh."

When Johnny mentions that his company worked on the design of the restaurant and he was the project manager for it, Mark's eyes grow even bigger, even though it seemed hardly possible. "So what exactly do you do?" he asks.

Johnny shrugs, leaning over his open menu. He drags his finger down the page, pretending he doesn't pay attention. "You know. Bossing people around and telling them to stick to the damn schedule."

Mark hums with interest. "Sounds like a job for you, huh?"

When Johnny looks up from the menu, he has a big smile on his face, and he lifts his chin to direct Mark's attention to the wall behind Mark's back. "You see that dent in the moulding? I may have had a little pushing and shoving session with a site foreman over the measurement discrepancy. Which I asked to be fixed, by the way. Not my problem these guys couldn’t read the plans."

Mark nods his head. "I've no idea what you just said, but it does sound cool." He smiles at Johnny, rather playfully, and Johnny feels warm all over his body. Not good.

"I know. Thanks."

He asks Mark about his job and Mark describes to him some recent magazine illustrations that he's been working on, clearly enthusiastic about the question, until the waiter comes over to take their order. They flip through their menus and Mark asks Johnny for recommendations, and Johnny orders the food for both of them, and as the waiter writes it all down, together with some expensive wine, Johnny realizes that they seem a bit like a couple. Which Mark must have noticed too, judging by the look on his face. And the blush.

"So what is Yuta doing today?" he asks Johnny, rather meaningfully.

Johnny doesn't want to say that probably fucking other dudes, so he just shrugs and comes up with a different but equally believable theory. "Lying in bed and reading? Yuta likes being alone a lot. He's charging his batteries this way."

Mark smiles. "Say hi from me when you get back home. I haven't seen him in a while."

On Monday, Yuta's alone in the gallery and he's arranging the lesbian vagina paintings on the walls of the main exhibition room, a cigarette in his mouth because his boss is away. He takes two steps back, looks at the silver frame and the big red vagina inside of it, takes two steps closer and moves it slightly to the right so it's no longer lopsided. And then the doors to the gallery open and Yuta stirs in the direction of the sound, surprised because usually nobody comes in before three pm. He considers that it may be the boss but since he doesn't have the time to hide his cigarette, he just keeps smoking; or Lua, with an unexpected friendly visit to once again torture him about his open relationship with Johnny and maybe bring a bottle of wine so Yuta can get tipsy and then sober up by the time actual visitors show up. But it's neither of them. It's Mark.

"The sign said it's open," Mark explains once his eyes and Yuta's eyes meet. He comes closer. "Are you busy?" he asks, noticing a bunch of canvasses piled up on the floor.

Yuta shrugs. "Nah. Just hanging vaginas. What's up?" He looks Mark over. He's wearing a white tee with a logo, a pair of black loose pants with many pockets, and a bag across his chest, which hangs very low, almost touching his knees. Yuta squints, looks some more, then decides that he likes the look. His aesthetic sense identifies it as cool.

"Just," Mark takes a hand out of his pocket and makes a vague move with it, "I think I promised I would drop by."

"You didn't promise," Yuta corrects him. "You were just being polite."

Mark shakes his head. "I'm serious when I make promises."

Yuta smiles. The ashes drop from his cigarette and he quickly pushes them with his shoe, hoping no mark will be left on the floorboard. He'll blame it on a visitor, he decides.

"Also," Mark continues, "I thought to myself, how often do I even come across gay art galleries? I'm gay myself and I've never been to one."

Something stirs in Yuta. Not only because of what he's just learned, the fact that Mark's actually gay, but also because of Mark's tone. Dangerously close to flirtatious, only Yuta's sure Mark's not aware of it. He thinks of something polite to reply with, but all he comes up with is, "You don't look like it."

"Really?" Mark seems genuinely surprised. "Guys usually say they could tell by the first glance." Yuta doesn't reply and so Mark changes the subject. "So what do you do here? It's a very nice place, by the way. Not like super big, but it feels big. You know what I mean?"

Yuta looks around, then at Mark, then nods. "Yeah, totally." He takes a drag. "I'm here as a guide. I organize some events, help manage the fanpage online. And they sell my photos sometimes."

Mark nods his head like he's impressed. "That's a lot."

Quite the contrary. On most days Yuta just hangs around, smokes and reads books. But he doesn't tell that to Mark. "Want me to show you around?" he asks.

"Are you being polite now?" Mark asks, smiling.

Yuta smiles too. "I have some beer in the backroom," he reveals. "If you're planning to stay for a bit."

After two beers, Yuta feels kind of drunk, which is why when he gets a text message from his hook-up for the night, about how he can't make it and maybe they can reschedule, he immediately shares this information with Mark.

They're sitting on two plastic chairs in the backroom, where some of the paintings and photographs for sale are being stored. The closest one to them is a modern rendition of a white Greek statue, in a model-like pose and with its penis being enlarged by the perspective. Right next to it, there is an abstract painting of two male bodies embraced underwater, and you can barely tell they are humans, and Yuta mentions to Mark how he once bought a painting like this but Johnny didn't feel comfortable having it hang in their apartment. "He said he didn't want to see a violet penis surrounded by sea shells, first thing in the morning. I told him, it's not a threat to you." Mark bursts into laughter. "But it was a cool painting. I still have it. Dude's like kneeling on the beach, legs spread. There are some nice seagulls flying over the ocean. And yeah, there is his big hard dick lying on the sand." Then he opened another bottle.

They're no longer sober, but they aren't super drunk either, and Mark's voice gets a tone lower and he stumbles over his words a little, and giggles even when Yuta doesn't say anything funny. And that's when Yuta mentions the text message on his sex app. And Mark's eyes grow bigger, and for a while he doesn't say anything. Yuta doesn't say anything either, waiting for the question to follow.

"You're hooking up with someone else?" Mark asks.

Yuta feels the satisfaction fill in his veins. "Yeah," he affirms. "Me and Johnny, we have what you call an open relationship."

Yuta likes saying that to people because he likes surprising them. And showing off just how healthy, and flexible, and cool his relationship with Johnny is. But Mark seems neither surprised nor very impressed. He just looks at Yuta with his eyes shiny and curious, and maybe Yuta's eyes drop for a second to Mark's lips.

"So you just sleep with whoever you want and Johnny doesn't mind?"

Yuta says, "Yeah, exactly."

And for a while they're looking at each other, and Mark catches Yuta looking at his lips.

They drink some more and they continue their conversation, but it's clear that the atmosphere between them has changed. When they finally start kissing and both stand up from their respective chairs, an empty frame falls down, Yuta flinches, curses, then kicks it aside before continuing to swing his tongue inside Mark's mouth. The man feels nice to have in arms, soft and much smaller than Johnny, so Yuta doesn't have to stand up on his toes. Mark's hand slides into Yuta's hair and he releases it from the ponytail, and Yuta purrs into the kiss. They get to a counter where Yuta pushes the papers aside and sits Mark on top, and as they keep kissing, he palms Mark's erection, and Mark's legs clasp around Yuta's thighs, and he's so very responsive and loud, Yuta's immediately reminded of just how horny he's been for the last couple of days. He asks Yuta if he can suck him off, and moments later, he's down on his knees, unbuckling Yuta's washed off jeans and taking Yuta's length into his hand, looking at it, testing, before putting it into his mouth. And the last two thoughts that formulate in Yuta's mind before it goes completely blank, is that their pose is identical to the painting of a blowjob that lies behind Mark's back, and that he regrets not having his camera with him and not being able to snap a photo of Mark's slutty wet lips and saliva dripping down his chin after Yuta pushes himself into his throat for the first time.

One evening, Johnny realizes that he may be having a problem. The problem is that while he obviously thinks of Yuta whenever he spends time with Mark, whenever he's back at home, his thoughts involuntarily drift back to Mark. When Mark's not with him, he catches himself wondering what Mark may be doing and how he may be feeling. He imagines Mark's face when he's at work and it makes him feel good, similarly to how he feels good when thinking of Yuta. He randomly remembers something Mark told him a few weeks ago, or something he did, and he smiles to himself, and this is not the kind of feeling that he should harbor to someone he may not even be in contact with in a month or so.

On Tuesday he comes to Mark's to help him install a new router. On Friday Mark comes to their place for dinner. Then again, on Saturday, he goes to meet with Mark in a cafe, one on one. And it feels different to him than, say, meeting with Ten or Jaehyun.

He's thinking all that as he jogs back home, but then he tries to push the thoughts aside as soon as he sees Yuta. Recently Yuta seems annoyed more often than not, and maybe that has to do with Mark too. Maybe Mark has become Yuta's problem as well.

Johnny takes off his hoodie, grabbing at the collar and pulling it over his head, then he drops it on the kitchen stool. He opens the fridge and gets himself a cold soda.

Yuta's looking at him from the sofa. He's dropped the book he's been reading. His hair is arranged, he's wearing an elegant flower-patterned shirt and his nails are painted black, probably by Lua. Johnny wonders if Yuta has a sex date planned for the night, then wonders when was the last time he and Yuta went on a sex date together. Or when was the last they had sex. Probably a month ago. With Jeno. That's a long time. He frowns, considers whether he could possibly mobilize himself to have sex with Yuta tonight, but then he thinks of Mark, and he feels guilty that he spends so much time with Mark and not with Yuta, and feeling guilty makes him feel very unsexy.

Yuta's still looking at him, arms crossed over the back of the sofa, and Johnny realizes that he needs to say something. "Hi."

Yuta rolls his eyes. "Hi. How was the jogging?"

Johnny shrugs. "I guess just fine. Didn't bump into any hot dude to hook us up with," he jokes.

Yuta smiles, then the smiles disappears. "Can we talk?"

The expression on Yuta's voice in combination with the tone of his voice alert Johnny. He puts the soda down and comes closer, his arms crossed on his chest, rather defensively. "Yeah. Sure."

There's a safe distance between them, Yuta on the sofa, Johnny by the kitchen island, and neither of them is willing to move. Yuta's stare, usually piercing and resilient, so strong that he always wins staring competitions against Johnny, this time, he looks away and hesitates.

Johnny doesn't like this atmosphere. "Going for a hook-up tonight?" he asks, trying to sound casual, almost amused.

Yuta looks back at him. "I fucked with Mark."

Johnny blinks. It takes a moment for him to process Yuta's words, and even as he eventually understands their meaning, he still chooses to ask, "Which Mark?"

Yuta rolls his eyes. Again. "You know which Mark. _Your_ Mark. I'm sorry."

Silence for a minute and then Johnny reminds him, "But he's straight."

"I can promise you it did not feel like his first time sucking a dick."

Johnny untangles his arms and props them on the kitchen island behind him. He heaves a breath in and feels his chest rise. "You had sex with _Mark_?"

"Three times."

"Three times?"

"Four if you count coming while sexting."

And it seems like only now the whole situation dawns on Johnny, and the shock is replaced by growing anger. "You had sex with my childhood friend?"

"News flash. He's twenty two now." Yuta doesn't let Johnny respond. "He came to the gallery, we drank a little and we were both horny. No big deal."

"He came to _your gallery_?" There's a hint of distaste in Johnny's voice and Yuta takes it personally.

"Maybe he appreciates art. Unlike some people--"

"Dick shots are not art," Johnny snaps back. "I need to go." He takes his hoodie from the stool and storms out of the apartment before he gets any angrier and tells Yuta something he would surely regret.

Later that day, they're both in bed.

It's completely dark save for the alarm clock, but Johnny can tell that neither of them is asleep by the sound of Yuta's breathing. Yuta's lying with his back to Johnny. They haven't exchanged a word ever since Johnny came back home. It's been hours now and he still doesn't have any idea how to deal with the situation. Whether he should be hurt and guilt trip Yuta. Or angry and yell. He considers postponing their next conversation to the morning, but then he can't fall asleep without saying a word.

He clears his throat. When he speaks up, he tries to be very quiet. "How did it happen?" he asks Yuta. He's lying on his back, eyes looking up at the ceiling, which is a dark shade of blue because of the alarm clock.

Yuta doesn't move. "I told you," he mumbles from the other side of the bed. "He came to the gallery."

"All three times?"

Pause. Yuta thinks. "No. The third time I came to his apartment."

Johnny hums.

"He knows... we have an open relationship," Yuta's voice says. "I'm sure he wouldn't do this with me if he didn't."

For the next couple of minutes they keep silent and Johnny tries to stabilize his breathing. He doesn't know what to say next, but he knows he wants to hear more. He hopes that maybe if he learns all the details the feeling of being out of control and out of picture passes. That maybe the fact that Yuta did this without consulting him beforehand won't sting so bad.

Their bed smells of Johnny's musky shower gel and Yuta's watermelon body oil. Johnny closes his eyes. "So what did you do?"

Yuta stirs in the bedsheets, ever so slightly. "What exactly?"

"Uh-huh." When Yuta doesn't reply, Johnny adds, "Tell me about the time in his apartment."

Pause.

"He texted me to come over after work. We talked for a bit and he asked whether I told you about us. I think he was ashamed."

"Go on."

There's a pause and the next time Yuta speaks up, his voice changes. "We started kissing. He got hard really fast." Johnny lets out a low sound out of his throat. "Should I continue?

"Yes."

"Will that make you feel better?"

Brief pause. "Yes?"

Yuta changes his position and is now lying flat on his back too. Johnny can make out Yuta's hair sticking out and the tip of his nose. "He sat on my lap and started rubbing on my thigh."

"And then?"

"I don't even know." Yuta sounds lost when it comes to the technicalities of their encounter, as if it all happened very fast and he didn't pay attention. Johnny wonders if it was just so good. "We undressed. I took a condom. We fucked standing there in the middle of his living room."

"You fucked him standing?"

"His back to my chest. I was holding him with both hands because he's so light. His dick was like flopping so much." He trails off, pauses, then his head moves on the pillow. He's looking at Johnny now. "Johnny?" he calls.

"Yeah?"

"Are you hard right now?"

Johnny moves under the sheets. Yuta's question makes him twitch in his pyjama pants but he's been growing hard for some time now. "I think so," he admits.

Yuta's next breath has a certain quality to it which immediately tells Johnny that he's turned on as well. "Is it just because you heard about me having sex or is it because the person I had sex with was your friend?"

Johnny feels flustered and half laughs as a result. "Both?"

Yuta stays serious. "You find it hot that I fuck your friend?"

Johnny hisses when he feels Yuta's hand move under the sheets and reach his semi. "Yuta."

"Just say honestly."

"Yeah. It's... so hot."

Yuta's hand slides up Johnny's clothed cock, then detaches itself before slipping under the waistband of Johnny's underwear. It's cold and Johnny flinches. "But you don't want me to do it again?" Yuta asks, and now his face is much closer to Johnny's. Johnny can smell Yuta's minty mouthwash.

"I don't even know anymore," Johnny manages to say. And it's true. He has no idea what he wants.

"What if I did it again but exactly the way you would tell me to?" Yuta takes Johnny into his hand. "And then I would describe it to you."

"That's--" Johnny breaks off when he feels Yuta's finger on the head of his dick, prodding at the slit.

"You like Mark," Yuta observes, and he sounds so serious and sexy, all the muscles in Johnny's body tense and he bucks into Yuta's hand, once, rather pathetically. "You're so hard right now," Yuta notes, "you're fucking leaking."

Again, Johnny lets out a breathless laugh. "I guess I am." It takes great effort on his part to keep still once Yuta's hand begins to jerk him off, a bit awkwardly considering their position and the bed sheets.

"Tell me how you want me to fuck him," Yuta whispers, then moves closer, for a better grip and to kiss Johnny on the neck, nipping at the skin on his collar bone. Johnny can't help but let out a groan.

"I don't know," he pants. His hips are now moving with Yuta's hand, which is wet with Johnny's precum. "Can you take a photo of him?"

Johnny's already promised to help with the couch.

They're carrying it up the staircase, and Mark keeps talking, the whole way from the delivery van, and all Johnny can think of is the snapshot of Mark's mouth full of Yuta's dick.

"I went to like a maths competition with him, I think," Mark continues, and Johnny doesn't know who they are even talking about. "It was like orienteering but with maths, and we run through the forest looking for mathematical puzzles on the trees."

Johnny tries to focus on how he's gripping the underside of the couch, so he doesn't send the furniture down on his feet. They take a turn and then climb another flight of stairs.

"I wasn't even good at maths, believe it or not," Maths says. Johnny chooses not to believe it. Mark was always known to be good at every school subject. "But I was the only person who could use the compass so they added me to the team anyway."

"Yeah?" Johnny pretends to be interested. In reality, all he cares about is how Mark's mouth must have worked its way up and down his boyfriend's dick just a couple of nights ago.

"Yeah," Mark affirms. "But we got lost after the first puzzle. Plus these other two guys, they were like complete nerds. Even worse than I was. So while all the other teams run super fast, they could barely walk. And we got lost."

God. Johnny can't believe he has to listen to Mark's primary school story right now. "Did you manage to get out of the forest?" he asks. "At least?"

Mark laughs at his memories. "We got to a village. Had to ask some old lady where the hell we were." As he laughs, his sharp cheeks hollow up, and that's exactly what's in the photo. Mark's hollowed up cheeks, saliva streaking out of the corners of his lips and down his chin. And those big eyes, shiny and obedient, and looking up at Johnny's boyfriend. Johnny almost hisses. "And of course we reached the finish line last. Out of like, I don't remember, six schools? Carefully," he says at the next turn.

Johnny looks over his shoulder. It's the last ten steps and they can finally place the couch on the ground. Johnny sighs with relief. He stretches his arms a little as Mark opens the door to his apartment. Johnny's only wearing a white tee, sleeves rolled up, and he's heavy breathing, and they pick up the couch one more time and try fitting it in through the doorway. Mark goes first, taking small steps while looking behind himself, and since he's shorter, the couch creates a slope from Johnny's hands to Mark's.

They place it in the middle of the living room and Johnny immediately sits down.

Mark takes a few steps back and looks at the entirety of the room. "Do you think it suits here?"

Johnny waves his hand. "It better does because I don't feel like carrying another one," he comments.

Mark laughs. "No, I mean, like, aesthetically."

Johnny looks him in the eyes before saying, "I think you need to invite Yuta and ask him this question."

Mark laughs again, but then looks away. "I have cold beer in the fridge. Do you want some?" He shakes his head. "I mean, I bought it specifically for you. To say thank you. I know it's your favourite brand." He's already stepping into the kitchen area, and Johnny guesses that he's asked Yuta about this. He wonders what else Yuta and Mark talk about.

He closes his eyes, cleans the image from his head and wills his semi to subside. He hears Mark open the fridge and bring out two bottles of beer, which he immediately opens with a bottle opener. The beers hiss. Johnny thinks about how Mark acts so casual, as if nothing happened between him and Yuta. He can't decide if it angers him or maybe arouses.

Mark hands him one bottle, then slumps down onto the sofa. There's a safe distance between them, enough for Yuta to squeeze in, Johnny thinks.

"So what else is missing?" he asks Mark, then moves his bottle to point at the room.

Mark frowns, thinking. "Maybe I'll buy some plants," he suggests. "A painting or two, perhaps."

"I would say that we have a painting to spare, but then I don't know if you're a fan of naked dudes kneeling on the beach."

Mark laughs. "Yuta mentioned it to me."

"Right."

Now Johnny's imagining Mark's meetings with Yuta. The two of them, not only having sex and taking lewd photos, like Yuta does with a lot of guys, but maybe just talking, like Johnny does with Mark, and having a nice time.

They make love that night, Johnny and Yuta do.

They order some fancy food and set up the table. They bring out Yuta's dick-shaped candles and flirt with each other as they eat, faces illuminated by the candlelight. They move to the bedroom, undress each other. Yuta lies down on the bed and Johnny places kisses all over his body, sucks his dick, licks him inside, and then Yuta skilfully turns things around and pins Johnny down and starts riding him, not fast and dirty as usual, but very slowly. With patience. And when they're both close to release, Johnny's holding Yuta in his arms, pressed to his chest, and Yuta's sucking on his neck, and when Johnny's about to come, he groans one word and Yuta belatedly realises that it's Mark's name.

He comes right after, spilling between their bodies.

"That's the guy you picked up from the airport?" Jeno asks, passing the joint to Yuta.

Once again, Yuta's in Jeno's bedroom. They're both naked, and Yuta's jogging clothes are lying scattered on the floor right beside the bed. "Yeah. Mark. That's him."

Yuta crumples the pieces of Kleenex he's just used and drops them on the floor. He props his head on his hand, elbow in the pillow, looking up at Jeno.

"Did it make you angry?" Jeno asks, rather casually. What Yuta likes most about his meetings with Jeno is that there's barely any connection between them, even after more than two months of sex. And that allows for some stimulating conversations, in his opinion.

"Do you think it should?" he asks, genuinely wondering.

Jeno shrugs. "You called me Johnny a couple times too," he mentions.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"No. It's cool. I kind of liked it." Jeno takes the joint back from Yuta and inhales. "But like, Johnny's your boyfriend. So it's a bit different, right?"

"Right."

Jeno leans down and kisses Yuta, passing the smoke into his mouth. In a few minutes, Yuta guesses, they'll both be ready for round two.

"What are you thinking of?" Jeno asks after a moment of silence. "You think he has some strong feelings for this guy?"

"Maybe."

"But it's you who fucks Mark, right?"

Yuta runs his hand down Jeno's neck where he's left some hickeys, and enjoys the softness of the man's skin. It reminds him of Mark. But not of Johnny. "I like Mark," he tells Jeno. "I like spending time with him. And when he spends time with Johnny too. And when we both spend time with Mark."

Jeno hums and takes another hit. "Sounds pretty cool to me," he comments. "If you knew Mark was also into your boyfriend," he says, clearly forgetting Johnny's name, "you could just go poly or something."

It's already past eight pm and he still has two illustrations to finish, but as he carries his tablet to his desk, there comes a knock on the door. He knows who the guest is before he even opens.

Yuta's wearing a long, loose sweater and there's a bottle of wine in his hand, which is very typical because Yuta's meetings with Mark always involve some kind of alcohol. With the other arm, he's leaning against the doorframe, making himself look very attractive. Mark smiles at the sight and opens the door wider to let the man in.

"I was worried that you would be busy," Yuta says, pushing the shoes off of his feet without using his hands, and straight to the living room.

"I was actually about to do some work."

"I don't mean _work_ ," Yuta says. "I mean, like, busy with some other guy."

Mark snorts. "You and Johnny are literally the only guys I know in town right now."

Yuta turns to him and smiles. "I like it this way," he says. He steps into the kitchen area, pulls two glasses out of the cabinet, where he knows they are, and quickly opens the bottle. There's a certain smoothness and confidence to Yuta's moves, which Mark admires from a few steps afar. "So that's the new couch?" Yuta asks then, one glass in his hand, pointing at the piece of furniture.

Mark looks at it as well. "How do you like it?"

"Love the retro vibe. And those little legs." He whistles, then looks at Mark. "Should we try it out?"

Mark comes over and takes his own glass, also filled with wine. "Want me to suck you off when you sit on it?" he asks, in a rather innocent voice, which makes Yuta laugh.

"Good thinking," he comments, then props his arms against the kitchen island, reaching to kiss Mark on the lips. Mark leans over to let him. Yuta's mouth tastes of cigarettes, bubble gum and sparkly wine.

When they stop kissing, Mark decides he needs to quickly get tipsy, feeling a slight pang of guilt at the memory of Johnny carrying the couch with him. It seems so abstract that Johnny and Yuta are boyfriends, and that Yuta still chooses to sleep with other men. To sleep with Mark. Incomprehensible. When Yuta isn't looking, he downs the whole glass at once, then pours himself more, then quickly calculates in his head that to feel optimally drunk, so drunk as to comfortably deep throat Yuta, he will have to finish it off with one or two bottles of beer.

They sit on the couch and Yuta talks to Mark about what kind of paintings he would hang on the walls, and which colors he would choose to mix in well, and maybe on the windowsill there should be a couple of plants too, and Mark says that it's exactly what he thought about too. They finish the wine, then a bottle of beer each and Mark goes to the fridge to bring more. Yuta suggests he could ask that friend of his to paint something custom for Mark for free, some nice landscape or whatever, and Mark replies that he'll think about it.

"Optionally, I can take a photo for you," Yuta says then. Thinking of photos, Mark thinks of sex, and then he thinks of the couch, of Johnny, of having sex with Yuta on the couch brought in by Johnny.

When he comes back and sits down, Yuta takes one bottle from him and immediately moves closer, his thigh touching Mark's. He props one arm on the back of the couch, and places his chin on top, looking Mark in the eyes and smiling. Mark can see that Yuta's already drunk and he's so sexy like this, and Mark wants his dick in his mouth, he wants to choke on it, but instead, he ends up asking, "Is everything alright with Johnny?"

Yuta laughs and doesn't stop looking into Mark's eyes. "Why?"

"Last time he was there, you know, helping with the couch, he seemed a bit quiet. I mean, more quiet than usually." He pauses, Yuta doesn't say anything yet, he continues. "I was wondering if maybe something happened, maybe between you two, but I get it if it's not something I'm supposed to know about."

Yuta sighs, momentarily closing his eyes. His eyelashes flutter. He has such beautiful eyes. "You think something happened with Johnny?"

"Yeah?" Mark suddenly wonders if Johnny knows. Or suspects.

"I love it that you care about him so much," Yuta reveals, and he's definitely drunk. He starts laughing and then places his hand on Mark's knee, moves it up, then lands it on Mark's crotch. "You care about Johnny, right?"

Mark puffs out air through his nose. "Of course."

"Do you find him attractive?"

Mark takes the bottle between his lips and proceeds to quickly drink, and almost chokes when Yuta starts massaging his dick. He puts the bottle aside. "Well, duh. Johnny's hot, right?"

"Was he this hot in high school too?"

Immediately, Mark's feels a rush of blood going down his body, right to his dick, and his face heats up too, and he's all nervous but in a good way. "Why?"

"Did you have a crush on him?" Yuta asks. "When you were younger?"

Mark's brain quickly processes the question. "Do you want me to say yes?"

Yuta laughs. "Of course."

So Mark nods his head. Because it's actually true. He did have a crush on Johnny, everybody did. Not the kind of intense crush that would make him unable to speak without fumbling over his words and getting red in the face, though. He coexisted with Johnny as his brother's best friend quite normally, and he always thought he skilfully hid his attraction from everyone, even his best friends, but now that Yuta dirty talks about it to him, he remembers it in detail. He remembers staring at Johnny when Johnny wasn't looking. One time experimentally thinking of him shirtless when jerking off in shower.

"Were you disappointed to learn that I'm his boyfriend?"

Mark shakes his head. "No."

"No?"

"I thought that you looked so good together." He realizes that he may be quite drunk too.

Yuta tells him that if he doesn't want his new couch to get all dirty with come, they need to get to his bed. Now.

When Mark walks out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel, it's nine am and Yuta's sitting at the kitchen island, smoking and flickering the ashes into an empty bottle from yesterday. Mark clears his throat and Yuta drops the whole cigarette into the bottle, letting it go out.

"I think Johnny was calling you when you were sleeping," Mark says. He feels slightly hungover, opens the cabinet and quickly drinks half a bottle of water at once.

Yuta nods his head, watching Mark, or rather his Adam's apple. It's a small thing but Mark likes it how Yuta can so easily make him feel attractive. He finishes drinking and a few drops of water unintentionally spill out of the corner of his mouth, and he wipes them off with his arm, and Yuta smiles. "Sure. I'll call him back," he tells Mark.

Mark turns with his back to Yuta. "Do you want something to eat?"

"What have you got?"

Mark opens the fridge, which is mostly empty, because he never has the time for any proper shopping. But apparently he does have the time to screw his friend's boyfriend. He can't deny that his life has been rather chaotic ever since moving cities. "Eggs... and eggs," he says. "I can do an omelette, I guess?" He closes the fridge, turns towards Yuta, who's now playing with his lower lip and staring at Mark. Possibly staring at Mark's ass. Yuta's hair looks messy and the neckline of his sweater hangs low, revealing his protruding sharp clavicles. "Hey. Can I ask you something?"

Yuta says sure.

"Did I... say something strange yesterday?"

Yuta pretends to be thinking the question over, then looks at Mark and smiles even brighter. "Nothing strange that I can think of."

"Alright." Mark decides to approach this from a different angle. "Listen. If there's anything going on with Johnny recently, I want you to know that I wouldn't ever come in between you two."

Yuta's expression changes. He frowns, just a little, and his body tenses as he leans forward. "There's nothing going on."

Mark clears his throat. "I'm speaking theoretically." He fidgets with the bottle in his hand. "Like the fact that the two of us are having sex? I wouldn't ever tell him."

"Alright."

"And if I said something about Johnny being attractive and all that," he feels a lump in his throat, "I wouldn't ever act on it." He's already screwing one of them. He can't imagine screwing two guys who are boyfriends. Especially with one of them being someone who used to see him off to school. And whose parents Mark knows and they know him. Right?

Once again, Yuta's expression switches from frowning to smiling. "We're good," he tells Mark.

Mark heaves a mock sigh of relief. Then there comes the sound of a phone vibrating in the bedroom on the other side of the wall. "I think you should pick it up," he tells Yuta.

Yuta comes home in a very good mood, which Johnny explains as the result of a long night of good fucking. Part of him wishes to hear the detailed recount, after which he and Yuta would have kinky sex as well, as it usually happens. Another part, however, is getting ready for something entirely different.

"Great news, baby." Yuta shakes his shoes off and drops his smart phone on the kitchen island. "We've got the green light."

From where Johnny's seated on the kitchen stool, he furrows his eyebrows, not understanding. "What green light?"

Yuta leans in, briefly kisses him on the lips. He looks self-satisfied. Proud of something that happened. "You know what I'm talking about. Mark. I think you should hook up with Mark."

"What?"

"He likes you," Yuta reveals, in a casual tone. He picks at what remains of Johnny's eight am breakfast, toying with the fork. "We talked a little and he totally has the hots for you. I've confirmed this."

"You talked?"

"I can't deny that the alcohol helped me a little at the start." He's standing by the kitchen island, elbows on top, continuing to eat. His white-blond hair looks like he hasn't even combed it with his fingers, not since getting all sweaty while putting his dick into Mark. He gets his finger dirty with the ketchup, licks it, and looks up at Johnny, who keeps silent. He looks relaxed. "So what do you say?"

Johnny thinks of the painter from Yuta's gallery with whom they had sex for a couple of weeks and posed naked while performing oral sex. He thinks of that older couple of fags they met during vacation. Yuta's former tatooist who fucked him so well. Johnny's co-worker with a big dick. Many random guys they met in clubs and slept with once and never contacted again. That Jeno guy from jogging too. Some other guys Yuta met and Johnny doesn't even remember them at all.

And then he thinks of Mark.

He pauses, looks at Yuta and in a strangely sincere way, asks, "Do you really liked him?"

Yuta's response is against Johnny's expectations. He doesn't roll his eyes and doesn't speak in an exaggerated, theatrical manner. He doesn't look away or frown. "I like Mark," he tells Johnny.

Very predictably, it takes a few attempts for Yuta to convince Mark to come over to their apartment.

He shows up at the door looking rather cautious, and walks into the apartment so carefully as if Johnny was sleeping in the other room and wasn't to be woken up. But there's something else in Mark's behavior, which Yuta notices rather easily. A hint of excitement. The idea of having sex with Yuta in his and his boyfriend's apartment appeals to something deep inside Mark which he may not have known of, and Yuta loves every second of it.

Mark asks for a dark and Yuta knows that he means alcohol. He serves two glasses of gin with tonic and Mark thanks him, looking around the apartment, as if he was seeing it for the first time. Maybe it does feel like it without Johnny being present. Mark's never been here without Johnny.

"How much time do you think we've got?" Mark asks, after drinking half of his glass in one go. He sounds simultaneously anxious and thrilled, and by the way that his fingers are tapping on the glass, and how he fidgets with his feet, Yuta can tell he's impatient.

"Two hours maximum," Yuta estimates.

Mark hums. "That's not a lot."

Yuta laughs. "We can be pretty fast if we want, huh?"

Mark's not looking at him. They sit in the kitchen for what may be a couple of minutes, drinking but barely talking, and Mark's eyes are being constantly drawn back to the front door. He swallows the rest of his glass, all at once, and only then turns to Yuta. "Yeah. Okay. I think I'm good to go."

Usually it takes them much longer, but Yuta doesn't say that. He takes the glass from Mark's hand, puts it back on the kitchen island. He kisses Mark on the lips, holding his face between his two hands, and when he reaches with his hand down Mark's body, he can feel his cock fill in, and he giggles into the kiss. It's like a secret game they're playing, on the verge of being caught, like kids doing something they've been explicitly told not to by the adults.

"Let's get to the bedroom," Yuta murmurs into Mark's lips, eyes closed. He's now feeling Mark's stomach and chest, then moving his hands up, touching Mark's nipples and then running down Mark's back.

"Bedroom?"

Yuta smiles against Mark's mouth. "I want to fuck you on the bed where me and Johnny sleep every night." Mark swallows and is about to say something, but Yuta silences him with another kiss. "Everything's just like he's left it in the morning," he promises.

Mark doesn't respond to that.

They go to the bedroom and the bed isn't made, and sheets are lying mixed with each other, messy, like they've just be thrown off by someone waking up in an extreme rush. Mark stops at the doorstep, scanning the room, taking in the details. The tent in his pants is very evident at this point, and Yuta has to start undressing himself, dropping his clothes on the floor, to regain Mark's attention. Mark's eyes are dark and clouded with lust, pupils blown. His chest rises and falls under the baggy t-shirt he's wearing, and he watches Yuta undress until he's got nothing on but the underwear.

"Your turn."

One last time, Mark looks over his shoulder, at the front door, and there's a look on his face, very brief, which almost makes Yuta think that he's changed his mind. That he couldn't do it. That this was too much for him. But then he pulls the t-shirt over his head and drops it on the floor, mirroring Yuta.

There's Johnny's suit on a hanger, hanging off the closet handle. A pile of clothes on the armchair in the corner. Yuta's book on the nightstand.

Mark slips out of his tight jeans and he comes over to Yuta, in his underwear and socks, his skinny legs and juicy thighs moving, and there's an expression of arousal and confliction on his face, his eyebrows furrowed, lips pressed into a tight line. He starts kissing Yuta, and touching him all over his body, making soft sounds as he does it, sighing impatiently or humming to himself. Yuta slips his hands into Mark's underwear, rubbing his asscheeks.

"I want to do it doggy style," Yuta says, "push your face into the sheets and hold it."

Mark stirs under Yuta's touch, as if surprised, but then quickly nods his head and proceeds to take off Yuta's briefs. Without asking any questions or even looking into Yuta's eyes, he instinctively kneels on the floor and starts licking Yuta's cock. He licks the underside, then the very tip, sucks on his balls, one by one, before finally putting the whole length into his mouth. He bobs his head a couple of times until Yuta finally grips on his hair and takes over the control. He gives Mark a few seconds of warning before pushing in for the first time, and Mark puts his hands on Yuta's thighs for support as he relaxes his throat, and when it starts, he chokes at first, making those wet guttural sounds.

"Take a breath," Yuta tells him to. Mark's nose is in Yuta's pubic hair. "There we go. Now hold it. Good boy."

It becomes easier the longer they're doing it, and each time Mark manages to hold Yuta in his throat for a few seconds more, his eyes getting wet, lashes fluttering, until Yuta gets too close to his release and pulls on Marks hair, taking him off of his cock. He manhandles Mark easily, even though in terms of body size and weight they aren't that much different. He puts him down on the bed, on all fours, ass up, face down. He tugs Mark's underwear down his legs, slips it off his feet, then rolls it into a ball and pushes into Mark's mouth. Mark doesn't oppose. In fact, he's looking into Yuta's eyes when it happens, obediently opening his mouth wider.

There's lube in the nightstand and Yuta reaches for it with no hurry. He fingers Mark for some time, simultaneously massaging his lower back and he asks Mark if he can smell Johnny in the bedsheets, to which Mark only moans weakly through the underwear between his teeth. Yuta puts a condom on and enters Mark, slowly, and barely does he push two, three times when there comes the sound of the door being opened and someone's keys turning in the lock.

Mark's body immediately jumps and he tries to look over his shoulder, only Yuta doesn't let him. He pushes one hand on Mark's head, pressing him into the sheets on Johnny's side of the bed. Mark gasps.

Keys are put down on the cabinet. Shoes taken off. Yuta doesn't move inside Mark, waiting, and Mark doesn't move either. It's almost like they're not even there. Jacket dropped on a stool. Steps on the floorboards. Johnny walks into the bedroom.

"Hi, babe. How's your day?" Yuta's voice. Almost nothing about it betrays that he's buried deep in Mark's ass right now, and it makes Mark shiver. Yuta can sense it under his fingertips and around his cock.

Johnny's figure stops by the bed and he leans to kiss Yuta on the lips, throwing a shade over Mark's body. "Kind of busy," Johnny replies. His voice sounds lower than usually but other than that, he's very much composed. "It's good to be back home and have some rest," he says into Yuta's mouth.

They keep kissing, but Yuta knows that Mark can't see it with how he's pressed to the mattress, so strong that he can't move his head even if he tried, but not too strong to stop him from breathing through his nose. He doesn't disturb their kissing for as long as it lasts, barely letting his existence be known.

The kiss is over, Johnny's knees dip into the mattress, and Yuta takes his hand from Mark's head so he can finally move it to the side and see Johnny, fully dressed, jeans, belt, elegant shirt and a tie. There's a slight shift in the atmosphere the moment their eyes meet, Johnny's and Mark's. Johnny leans down and takes Mark's underwear out of his mouth, wet with his saliva.

He kisses Mark on the lips. "How is it going?" he asks.

Mark nods his head, ever so slightly. His eyelashes are still wet and clumped together, and he quickly blinks a few times. "It's perfect," he says. His voice comes out hoarse, his throat dry.

Johnny's hand gently touches Mark's cheek, spreading the tears and saliva on his skin. He kisses Mark's forehead and tucks Mark's hair behind his ear. "Are you being a good boy?"

Mark nods again. "Very."

"Is Yuta taking good care of you?"

Mark nods again, and as if to prove Mark's point, Yuta takes his cock out of him and slams back inside, making Mark moan and squeeze his eyes shut. And that's probably all that it takes for Johnny to drop the act. He's hard in his pants too, and he quickly uses both his hands to unbuckle his belt and unzip the fly, bringing his cock out and giving it a few rushed strokes as he watches Yuta roll his hips, moving inside of Mark.

"Oh god. Fuck." It must be the first time Johnny hears Mark's voice be so high pitched and desperate. Mark is a complete mess right now but he still makes the effort to lift himself slightly and move his face closer to Johnny's crotch. He makes a pleading whine and he doesn't even look at Johnny. He's looking at his cock.

"Do you want something?" Johnny asks him.

"Please."

"Please what?"

Yuta gets too close to release, and he stops moving, again, simply listening to their exchange, watching how Johnny looks down at Mark, cock in his hand.

"Please what, Mark?" Johnny repeats.

Mark takes a deep breath in. "Fuck my mouth," he asks Johnny. "Please." His voice is shaky and so high, on the verge of breaking, Johnny curses to himself.

Just as Yuta has done it before, he takes hold of Mark's hair and then directs his cock into Mark's mouth, entering it slowly as he keeps cursing. It takes a moment for Mark to get accustomed to his girth, but once Mark's ready, he looks up at Johnny, as if to signal he can go ahead and fuck him.

Yuta's watching the scene absolutely breathless. Johnny's thick cock goes in to the hilt and Mark manages not to gag. Johnny takes it out entirely and pushes back in, one, long slide, and Mark's whole body tenses, and he clenches around Yuta, his throat closing around Johnny. Pause. Johnny takes his cock out, tells Mark to take a breath, deep breath. Mark does as he's told, and then Johnny starts bucking his hips, a good couple of times in a row, sharp and fast, and Mark's spit begins to escape the corners of his mouth. He can't control the sounds he makes.

"Yuta was right," Johnny tells him. "You're so good at it."

He takes his cock out and Mark can't respond anyway, greedily sucking the air in. When he opens his eyes, he sees how Johnny leans closer and kisses Yuta, holding Yuta's neck with that hand which isn't already gripping Mark's hair.

"You practised a lot, huh?" Johnny says, without specifying to who. He kisses Yuta again and in the very same moment pushes back into Mark's mouth, and that's how it's all going to finish.

With Mark being filled on both sides, fucked relentlessly, and Johnny kissing Yuta right above him.

Afterwards, Mark and Yuta take a bath together, the bathtub big enough to fit them both just fine.

Johnny carries Mark in his arms, easily, and places in the bathtub, and Mark asks whether they have done this before with other men.

"I don't think we've ever come up such a complex play," Yuta says, sitting naked by the bathtub, smoking and waiting for the water to fill it. "Right, babe?" he looks up at Johnny.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Johnny agrees. He opens the cabinet and searches through the collection of Yuta's bath bombs. "Do you want something fancy to throw in there?" he asks. Mark leans on the side of the bathtub, crossing his arms and placing his chin on top. Water splashes a little as he moves. " _Skin-softening cocoa sweetness_ or _romantic rose jam fizz_?"

"Romantic rose jam?" Mark guesses, then looks at Yuta for approval. "What'd you think?"

"My favourite," Yuta agrees, smiling at Mark. He brings his lips to Mark's and the next time Johnny looks over his shoulder, he sees the two men kissing, Yuta's fingers gently playing with Mark's hair. He puts the bomb aside and leans with his back against the wall, watching, taking in the details of the view, relishing the moment. The bathroom is silent for the next couple of minutes, save for the water filling in the bathtub and Mark sighing into Yuta's mouth.

"So how are you feeling now?" Yuta asks, once their lips part and they're looking at each other from very up close.

Mark pretends he's thinking. "Dreamy?" he replies at last, with a mischievous smile on that pretty face of his.

"That sounds very nice."

"It is." Mark raises his eyes at Johnny, and Yuta follows him soon. "This went even better than planned, huh?" he tells Johnny. "I loved it when you came in. And everything you said."

Johnny hums. He crosses his arms on his naked chest and hopes that it doesn't show just how soft he's feeling in this very moment.

"So you seriously didn't know I was kind of crushing you in middle school?" is Mark's first question, as he and Yuta enter the kitchen after the bath.

Johnny's standing on the other side of the kitchen island, overseeing the food being cooked in a pot. He looks over his shoulders and sees both men, barefoot, in fresh clothes. Mark wearing Yuta's t-shirt and sweatpants, which are just the right size. Yuta has a towel still around his neck, and his wet hair is sticking out in all directions.

"Nope," Johnny says. "Had no idea."

"It would have been real awkward if you had," Mark says, casually. He sits on one of the kitchen stools while Yuta comes over to the cooker, inspecting the contents of the pot.

There's a brief pause and Johnny wonders about something. "Is it awkward now?" he decides to ask Mark. "You know. The fact that we've known each other for some time."

Mark thinks about it for a moment. His black hair is flat on his head, changing the way he looks, and Johnny observes that with growing interest. "I don't think so?" Mark says. He pauses and shrugs. "Everybody was lowkey crushing you at school."

That's when Yuta joins the conversation. "Yeah, keep doing that," he tells Mark. "Pump that huge ego of his. It'll sure be fun to deal with in the future."

He's standing by Johnny's side now, shoulder by shoulder, and Johnny turns to face him. "Sometimes I deserve to be appreciated for what I'm worth," he jokes, with mock hurt.

Yuta leans closer, takes hold of Johnny's chin and leaves a peck on his lips. "It's fine. Mark can praise you all he wants. I'm always here to call you a piece of shit when it's needed."

Johnny smiles into their next kiss. "Thanks, babe."

They look into each other's eyes for a longer while, and then Yuta takes his hand off of Johnny's chin and straightens his back. When he redirects his attention to Mark, there's a brief pause, and Johnny can tell that he's hesitating about how to approach the subject in the most natural way. "I was thinking," Yuta finally says, "that maybe you could stay for the night."

Mark hums, as if considering the proposition. He's sitting with his both elbows on the kitchen island, his chin propped on his hand, and he's absent-mindedly gnawing at the nail of his index finger.

"And you're also invited for dinner," Yuta adds. "Johnny's hell of a good cook. You've probably noticed by now."

That seems to convince Mark. "You know I'm always glad to leech off someone else's food."

"You've no choice. Soy sauce and a moldy mango yoghurt is all you've got in your fridge," Yuta says. "I checked two days ago," he adds, shrugging.

Mark laughs, and Johnny smiles, watching him laugh. Then, he decides to take it a step further. "You're always free to spend time at our place," he says, looking at Yuta out of the corner of his eye.

Mark smiles at them. "I've been seeing you guys a few times a week for the past three months. I eat in your kitchen more often than in my own at this point."

When Yuta smiles back at Mark, there's a clear message in it. "I hope now you have even more reasons to be here."

**Author's Note:**

> it could have made more sense but yeah, no.


End file.
